page_title: Spinosauridae
section_title: Distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Spinosauridae / Paleoecology / Distribution
caption_attribution_description: English: Generalized palaeogeographic locations of spinosaurids (white) and the specimen of HB site (black), through time from Bajocian–Bathonian (A), Tithonian (B), Barremian−Aptian (C), and Albian−Cenomanian (D). Nederlands: Wereldkaart met veralgemeende paleogeografische vindplaatsen van Spinosauridae (witte stippen) en van MUPE HB-87 in Aderbissinat bij Agadez, Niger (zwarte stip), tijdens het Bajociaan–Bathoniaan (A), het Tithoniaan (B), het Barremiaan−Aptiaan (C) en het Albiaan−Cenomaniaan (D). Met dank aan Ron Blakey (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/mollglobe.html), aangepast en updated door Bertin (2010).
context_page_description: Spinosauridae is a family of theropod dinosaurs comprising up to thirteen known genera. They came into prominence during the Cretaceous period, with possible origins in the Middle or Late Jurassic. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, including Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and possibly Australia. Their remains have generally been attributed to the Early to Mid Cretaceous, with the exception of the earliest named genus, Ostafrikasaurus from the Late Jurassic.
  Spinosaurids were large bipedal carnivores. Their crocodilian-like skulls were long, low and narrow, bearing conical teeth with reduced or absent serrations. The tips of their upper and lower jaws fanned out into a spoon-shaped structure similar to a rosette, behind which there was a notch in the upper jaw that the expanded tip of the lower jaw fit into. The nostrils of spinosaurids were retracted to a position further back on the head than in most other theropods, and they had bony crests on their heads along the midline of their skulls. Their robust shoulders wielded stocky forelimbs, with three-fingered hands that bore an enlarged claw on the first digit.
context_section_description: Confirmed spinosaurids have been found on every continent except for North America, Australia and Antarctica, the first of which was Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, discovered at the Bahariya Formation in Egypt. Spinosaurids are known to exist from as early as the Tithonian of the Late Jurassic, through characteristic teeth which were found in Tendaguru, Tanzania, and attributed to Ostafrikasaurus. Baryonychines were common, such as Baryonyx, which lived during the Barremian of England, Spain and Portugal. Baryonyx-like teeth are also found from the earlier Hauterivian and later Aptian sediments of Spain, as well as the Hauterivian of England. Baryonychines were represented in Africa, with Suchomimus tenerensis and Cristatusaurus lapparenti as well as Baryonyx-like teeth from the Aptian of Niger. as well as in Europe, with Suchosaurus cultridens and S. girardi from the England; and. Baryonyx-like teeth are also reported from the Ashdown Sands of Sussex, in England, and the Burgos Province, in Spain. Another possible European spinosaurid, Camarillasaurus cirugedae, is known from the Barremian of Spain.
  The earliest record of spinosaurines is from Europe, with the Barremian species Vallibonavenatrix cani from Spain. Spinosaurines are also present in Albian sediments of Tunisia and Algeria, and in Cenomanian sediments of Egypt and Morocco. In Africa, baronychines were common in the Aptian, and then replaced by spinosaurines in the Albian and Cenomanian. Africa has shown a great abundance in spinosaurid discoveries, such as in the Kem Kem beds of Morocco, which housed an ecosystem containing many large coexisting predators. A fragment of a spinosaurine lower jaw from the Early Cretaceous was also reported from Tunisia, and referred to Spinosaurus. Spinosaurinae's range also extended to South America, particularly Brazil, with the discoveries of Irritator challengeri, Angaturama limai, and Oxalaia quilombensis. There was also a fossil tooth in Argentina which has been referred to the Spinosauridae by Leonardo Salgado and colleagues. This referral is doubted by Gengo Tanaka, who offers Hamadasuchus, a crocodilian, as the most likely animal of origin for these teeth.
  Partial skeletons and numerous fossil teeth indicate spinosaurids were widespread in Asia; three taxa—all spinosaurines—have been named: Siamosaurus suteethorni from Thailand, "Sinopliosaurus" fusuiensis from China, and Ichthyovenator laosensis from Laos. Spinosaurid teeth have been found in Malaysia; the first dinosaur remains discovered in the country. Some intermediate specimens extend the known range of spinosaurids past the youngest dates of named taxa. A single baryonychine tooth was found from the mid-Santonian, in the Majiacun Formation of Henan, China. At la Cantalera-1, a site in the early Barremian Blesa Formation in Treul, Spain, two types of spinosaurid teeth were found, and they were assigned, tentatively, as indeterminate spinosaurine and baryonychine taxa. An indeterminate spinosaurid was discovered in the Early Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation, Australia. It is known from a single 4 cm long partial cervical vertebra, designated NMV P221081. It is missing most of the neural arch. The specimen is from a juvenile estimated to be about 2 to 3 meters long (6–9 ft). Out of all spinosaurs it most closely resembles Baryonyx. In 2019, it was suggested that the vertebra instead belonged to a megaraptorid theropod, as opposed to a spinosaur.
caption: Generalized locations of spinosaurid fossil discoveries from the Bajocian–Bathonian (A), Tithonian (B), Barremian−Aptian (C), and Albian−Cenomanian (D) marked on maps of those time spans.
exif: {}